Mr Fogg's Society Of Exploration, Society Of Exploration

Normally, I would give a bar like this more of an average 3-star review, but I feel like a few things actually set it apart for me from what my partner felt was a rather dull experience. Door staff, fun with good banter. No problems with our reso and we were brought down immediately. We were seated at a decent spot, and it seemed fairly busy for a Monday or Tuesday night (I can't recall). Unfortunately, it seems understaffed. It took ages to receive the menus, and we had to repeatedly attempt to flag down a server to make an order. Drinks took a bit of time, but our vantage point allowed us to see the bar and those boys were BUSY. They didn't stop, so it was not the bars fault. We did see drinks sitting for a while on the pass however. Again, seems like there aren't enough servers on the floor -- but that is a generally post-COVID problem across the industry. The menu is massive. I loved the attention to detail and storytelling, and this devotion to a theme is basically any Mr. Fogg's calling card. The menu is actually fun to read. Some like this can be tedious, others too try hard, but this had a good balance. The way it was organised was also very intuitive. (Other similar London bars could learn something about menu layout from this place.) Not looking for sweet or long drinks, I settled on Umi's Mist as it seemed to have all the notes I like. It was a solid cocktail. Sure, this place loves to use all the latest cocktail trends like foams and "air" (aka bubbles), but despite the rather kitschy vibes of the whole place, the cocktail worked. It wasn't too sweet, or too weak. My partner wasn't so pleased but she's very picky, and it does appear like there are a lot of offerings that lean sweet. I believe she ordered Li-Li's but found it far too dependent on the liqueur, to the point it overwhelmed all the delicate tea flavours. We ordered a few more options, and I have to say, I very much appreciated our server being honest. When she saw me eying one of the (expensive) offerings on the limited edition rum menu, she warned me off it, saying that if I don't want sweet, that's not a great choice. She suggested a better cocktail instead. Many servers would let a guest order an expensive cocktail and suffer. So, kudos to her for caring about our experience over the total on our bill. The cocktails themselves are basically what you would expect for a theme bar. Nothing crazy or too challenging or complex. Another positive was I had forgotten that I mentioned it was a birthday celebration in our booking, as both me and my partner had our birthdays that week and this was our celebration. We were served complimentary shots and a cute take-home card with birthday wishes. I know these are not personalised, but still, it was a very nice touch and I wasn't expecting anything, to be honest. And certainly not the attention to detail provided. Also, there is one incredibly talented bartender I was watching. (Long hair and beard). His style is super, and he's fast and fun to watch. His pours are very stylish. A negative is the way they automatically add a charity donation to LandAid. Like, if I want to donate to a charity, I will do it myself after vetting it. I found that very underhanded. I fully support LandAid, but I should be given a choice, not see later it was included in my bill without any notification. And if the establishment cares so much, they should be the ones putting in the donations, not shifting the responsibility to their customers (and then depending on tax laws, they could claim a charity write-off for their business). Underhanded. I cannot even guarantee they are giving that money to a charity at all. The decor is great, staff (when they were present) were great, and it was just a pleasant experience. Not sure I would come back, but I may try another Fogg's experience.